52 years ago here in Rockford, a tragic event took place in the early part of December. It was so shocking that people of a certain age still remember hearing about it, or worse--seeing it. 

Last December, I wrote in this space:

Depending on how long you've lived in the Rockford area, you've probably heard something about a tragic event involving Santa Claus parachuting into Rockford's North Towne Mall in the 1960s. Many believe that it's a Rockford "urban legend," but, as we learned this morning, it's all too true.

When the topic of the "Santa Parachute Incident" came up at work a few months back, I thought it might be interesting to run down the actual story of what happened, if indeed it happened at all. After doing a bunch of online searching, I came across an excellent piece from December of 2014 in the Rock River Times. It was written by Kathi Kresol, a local historian, paranormal investigator and operator of Haunted Rockford Paranormal Events. After reading her outstanding article, I invited Kathi to join us on the WROK Morning Show to share what she had learned while extensively researching the piece.

I've already had several people ask about the story this season, so I thought I would put the interview here again for those who still wonder if it really happened.

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